Question Everything.

Yet another Attie Award….

I swear I could give these awards out once a day. And, this one goes out to people who CLEARLY don’t know what they are talking about and even worse, have dragged the Way of Christ through the mud.

I’ll confess up front, this award is meant as a defense of Hemant Mehta, a friend of mine. Hemant came to Columbus in February to an event that my student group co-sponsored with the Students for Free Thought at Ohio State. I got to know Hemant through his talk, dinner and he stayed overnight at my house. He is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, atheist or otherwise.

So, it just infuriates me when people like The Illinois Family Institue attack him with no basis in fact whatsoever. I’m leaving aside the whole controversy that caused them to go after him. But, I want to stick to something they said in their press release that really burned my candy bars. They imply that Hemant is dishonest and pushes his views on students while giving NO proof that he is in fact doing so.

Even worse, they bang on about kids being “influenced” by such people because they are smart and good looking, etc. (Well, Hemant, you should take that as compliment at least). Then teach your kids to be smart and stop rotting their brain with poor reasoning. Use Hemant’s blog to instruct them WHY you disagree with him, instead of attacking the way he does his job or implying he is doing something unethical.

Look, I actually agree that the family is a strong building block of society. But, what that means for me is that I raise my kids to think, understand, and take the actual time to teach them. I don’t agree with many of Hemant’s positions and frankly, think he is wrong about. And, I would teach my kids that.

But in teaching my kids, I would teach them that love and respect in disagreement. even more, teach them the first rule of civilized disagreement, the Principle of Charity, meaning, make your opponents argument even stronger than the would before you contest it.

You have to actually engage with people are actually saying. Would I let me kids read his blog when they are in High School (a long time away, thank God)? Yes and then I would actually take the time to discuss it with them. Would I let Hemant teach my kids math? No doubt about it. And, I would ask them to learn from Hemant on how to be a nice guy. Something many Christians I know (including myself) could learn from.

So, congrats Illinois Family Institute, you are now in the esteemed (cough) company of the Creation Museum, Sam Harris, and “Pastor” Tom. You have sacrificed the cause and way of Christ for the way of “The Family”.

Hmmm…I could nominate a few people/groups for this award too. But anyway…good points about respectful dialogue and informed critical thought as a family value for us to be more intentional about developing. Enjoying the blog…

Carmina,
I actually was very mild of my criticism of him until he questioned my faith and ordination. Then, I tried to meet him for coffee. No dice. And now, it’s a Tom free zone. So, no more “drama” hounding.

I’m sorry but why are you putting Sam Harris in the same category as the Creation “Museum”?

Is this because he is uncompromising approach at promoting atheist? Harris has repetitively stated that spreading atheism is not his goals, he is an advocate for intellectual honestly first and foremost.

RGZ,
Welcome. There will be a lot of people who will win Atties that people may or may not like. As you can see from the picture, there are no sacred cows when it comes to the Atties. I personally think the push for intellectual honesty has much better advocates than Sam Harris, as his graps of history and philsophy are juvenile at best, outright misleading at worst. There is a well known rule in debate and philosphy that Harris violates on a repeated basis. That is, present your opponents argument in the strongest possible terms. Harris often sets up strawmen and then knocks them down. In my mind, hardly a stirling example of intellectual honesty. Daniel Dennett does a much better job in this respect.

I’m not so generous as you, Jonathan. I’m sure the folks who run the Creation Museum know exactly what they’re doing, as do the people who run AiG and CMI. They just don’t care, as long as it furthers their (and presumably the God they claim to serve) goals.